What 2 Watch at the Olympic Trials: Sunday

Today is Day 3 of the US track and field Olympic Trials, and up to twenty-one more men and women will earn berths on the US Olympic Team. Here is your guide on who, what, when, how and why to watch the action.

Trey Hardee (Nike), the 2009 and 2011 World Champion, was not able to complete yesterday’s competition due to injury. The Trials are not kind to champion decathletes past their prime; four years ago it was 2008 Olympic Champion Bryan Clay who was a DNF.

Each man has his strengths and weaknesses, and the way to follow the changing fortunes of the decathlon is to compare their results in each event to expectations. For example, a good hurdler on a bad day may still beat a bad hurdler on a good day, but the first has lost points and the second has gained.

Cribbing from TFN message board user “DecFan”, here are today’s events and rough estimates of how things are expected to turn out.

110 Hurdles

Mark

points

running total

Eaton

13.70

1014

5574

Ziemek

14.80

874

5285

Taiwo

14.50

911

5389

Scantling

14.20

949

5187

Discus

Mark

points

running total

Eaton

45.00

767

6341

Ziemek

47.00

808

6093

Taiwo

42.00

705

6094

Scantling

45.00

767

5954

Pole Vault

Mark

points

running total

Eaton

5.20

972

7313

Ziemek

5.30

1004

7097

Taiwo

4.90

880

6974

Scantling

5.00

910

6864

Javelin

Mark

points

running total

Eaton

63.50

791

8104

Ziemek

57.00

693

7790

Taiwo

50.00

589

7563

Scantling

65.00

813

7677

1500

Mark

points

running total

Eaton

4:25

778

8882

Ziemek

4:50

619

8409

Taiwo

4:27

764

8327

Scantling

4:50

619

8296

Women’s High Jump

The women’s high jump begins at 3:15pm local time (6:15pm Eastern).

Expert analysis:Track and Field Newspicks Chaunté Lowe (Nike), Vashti Cunningham (Nike), and Liz Patterson (Run Gum) to make the team.

In a nutshell:
This is basically a two-woman show between Chaunté Lowe (Nike) and Vashti Cunningham (Nike). Lowe is a veteran of three Olympic teams while Cunningham just graduated from high school. Both have been World Indoor champions (2012 and 2016 respectively), but Lowe made her first US international team when Cunningham was only five years old.

Complicating factor: The third place on the Olympic team may have more to do with the height of the bar than who finishes third. This is because only four women have achieved the Olympic qualifying mark of 1.93 meters (6′ 4″). They are the two above plus Liz Patterson (Run Gum) and Rachel McCoy. Unless someone else clears that height, it’s simply a one-on-one competition between Patterson and McCoy to make the team.

Men’s Long Jump

Twelve finalists begin competition at 4:15pm local time (7:15pm Eastern).

Expert analysis:Track and Field Newspicks Marquise Goodwin (Nike), Jeff Henderson (adidas), and Mike Hartfield (adidas) to make the team.

In a nutshell:
This may be the most interesting field event final in the entire Olympic Trials. There are six or seven athletes with very real chances of making the team.

Getting the lion’s share of the attention is Marquise Goodwin (Nike), the Buffalo Bills wide receiver and 2011 US long jump champion who has returned to jumping. He’s consistently improved all season–until the qualifying round, where he barely squeaked in with the 12th and final spot. If he makes the Olympic team, it appears it may cost him an NFL job.

Complicating factor: Claye does not have the Olympic qualifying mark of 8.15 meters (26′ 9″) and would need to achieve it in order to make the team. While it’s hard to imagine a distance that short finishing in the top three, he could still be in trouble if a tailwind is consistently over the allowable 2.0 m/s and thus negating the marks for qualification purposes.

Women’s 400 meters

Eight finalists will take to the track at 4:38pm local time (7:38pm Eastern).

Expert analysis:Track and Field Newspicks Courtney Okolo (Texas), Allyson Felix (Nike), and Francena McCorory (adidas) to make the team.

In a nutshell:
NBC will concentrate their coverage on Allyson Felix (Nike) because their producers aren’t interested in developing new stars. Felix’s status as a track and field deity is in jeopardy due to a bum ankle. She’s also 30 years old, which is ancient for the 400 meters — and the fact that she’s still likely to make the US team in one of our strongest events despite all of these disadvantages is a testament to how good she has been. But I don’t think she stands any chance at all at winning today.

Courtney Okolo (Texas) currently ranks #2 in the world based on her collegiate record of 49.71. Felix’s PR, set at last year’s Worlds, is less than half a second faster. While young, Okolo is hardly inexperienced since the NCAA system definitely battle-tests a quarter-miler.

Men’s 400 meters

The men’s finals begin at 4:48pm local time (7:48pm Eastern).

Expert analysis:Track and Field Newspicks LaShawn Merritt (Nike), Gil Roberts (Nike), and David Verburg (adidas) to make the team.

In a nutshell:
There is no such thing as a lock to make the Olympic team, but LaShawn Merritt (Nike) is about as close at it gets in this event. The only men on earth who can beat him are in Grenada and South Africa.

The rising star who could challenge them is Trayvon Bromell (New Balance). He won bronze at last year’s Worlds at age 20, which is very young for a sprinter. Had an achilles injury this spring and looked just fine in yesterday’s heats, but he also wasn’t going as hard as he’ll need to in the final.